An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between 3000 and 6000 m. Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth âs surface. They are among the flattest, smoothest and least explored regions on Earth.
Jim Beckwourth. On this day in 1844, Jim Beckwourth discovered a path through the Sierra Nevada Mountains that now bear his name. Beckwourth Pass on U.S. Alt 40 between Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California made overland travel to the gold fields of California. Tweet.
James Beckwourth, one of only a handful of early mountain men to emerge from the system of slavery, is born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The exact year of Beckwourthâs birth is in dispute. Some historians suggest it may have been 1800 rather than 1798. The uncertainty arises both from Beckwourthâs notorious reputation for exaggerating and rewriting his own history, as well as the humble circumstances of his birth.